Good Samaritan Law in The Philippines

10/4/2018 Good Samaritan Law in the Philippines?
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10th April 2012 Good Samaritan Law in the Philippines?

While I was taking my BS Nursing course in the Philippines, the term "Good Samaritan Law" is not uncommon, and
almost all, if not everyone, student nurses have a glimpse on what this law is, though not actually existing in the
Philippines. Without it, rescuers may revive a victim they found but are not immune from suits should the family or even
the victim himself claim for damages.
Our Ethico-Legal course covered mostly on RA 7164 and RA 9173, but many important laws in nursing practice (in the
Philippines) haven't been discussed in detail (RA 8344, RA 7600, etc.). No mention of Article 275 of our Revised Penal
Code was discussed so far which quite appear to be a partial candidate of a Good Samaritan Law, and I only found out
this law when I became a paralegal.
Wang Yue's Incident in China. Only after the viral video of the hit-and-run case of Wang Yue / Yue Yue initiated China
to draft a law to protect people who help strangers from being sued, and also to provide legal grounds against those
who will fail to render assistance (AFP). The child was hit by two vehicles, but for 7 minutes, she was being passed by
18 bystanders until someone finally rescued her. Their failure to intervene would be rooted in the Peng Yu case when
he, after helping a woman, was accused of knocking her down (alvinology .com), thus ordered to pay her $6,000
medical bill (MacKinnon, 2011). Since then, Chinese people rather stay out of trouble than to do what is right, hence the
Wang Yue accident.
Do BLS Principles of Rescue Apply in the Philippines? It's indeed soul-soothing and self-fulfilling to be an
instrument of saving other people's lives. Thus, medical professionals or not, we enrolled in Basic Life Support (BLS)
training to equip us with knowledge and skills on the step-by-step approach on rescuing a victim, from surveying the
scene, to calling for help, to establish breathlessness and pulselessness, to establish airway, to administer rescue
breathing, to perform CPR, to repeat the steps as necessary, and to assist the revived victim until help arrives. But,
whether the rescue is successful or not, the rescuers are not immune from suit should the victim or the relatives blame
the rescuer for damages, like Peng Yu. Yes, that case happened in China, but there is no guarantee that it won't
happen in the Philippines. So far, no BLS training course in the Philippines elaborated the Philippine legal implications
of applying American rescue techniques.
Pseudo Good Samaritan Laws. There are three pending Senate bills containing "Good Samaritan Law" in their titles,
but all pertains to food and medicine donations but nothing about resuscitation: Senate Bills Nos. 150, 1402 and 1917
(all series of 2007). Such donations per se are not the essence of a real "Good Samaritan Law" as applied in countries
like US, UK, Canada, France, et al. Such laws, if passed, won't protect rescuers from suits from rescuing in good faith,
whether it be civil (e.g. Damages) or criminal (e.g. reckless impudence resulting to physical injury).
Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), Paragraphs 1 and 2. This law specifically makes abandonment of
person in danger in an uninhabited place a crime, but nothing is specified therein if the witnessing person, who is
mandated by law to assist, has an immunity from suit if he do assist in good faith.
Art. 275. Abandonment of person in danger and abandonment of one's own victim. — The penalty of
arresto mayor shall be imposed upon:
1. Any one who shall fail to render assistance to any person whom he shall find in an uninhabited place
wounded or in danger of dying, when he can render such assistance without detriment to himself, unless
such omission shall constitute a more serious offense.
2. Anyone who shall fail to help or render assistance to another whom he has accidentally wounded or
injured.
xxx
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The elements of the crime are: 1) failure to render assistance, 2) victim is in an uninhabited place, 3) victim is wounded
or in danger of dying, and 4) assistance is not detrimental to himself - the scene must be safe.
If we look back to Wang Yue's case, elements 1 and 3 are present. Element 4 should be considered because the scene
is obviously safe for people (not young children) to pass by. However, the problem is element 3, for the place is
inhabited. Article 275 of the RPC cannot held the 15+ passersby liable.
Moreover, the woman rescuer, upon lifting the child incorrectly, is not immune from suit should Wang Yue's parents sue
her for damages (e.g. sustaining cervical spine fracture).
To be continued...
Posted 10th April 2012 by Le Fever
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